The Audacious class patrol frigate was the true successor to the
Sword class and it incorporated many of the lessons learned in the
operation of that earlier vessel.Three decades of
technological progress also helped, allowing for more powerful and efficient
power plants and engines.It could achieve a total 1000kps
delta-V, allowing a round trip to Saturn in the course of a six month
deployment.Better accommodations and more reliable systems
allowed for a full year deployment, putting Uranus in range as well, but that
system's population didn't top a hundred people until the mid twenty second
century.However patrols periodically made the Pluto/Charon
run from the inner system; with fueling facilities established on the moon Nix,
a round trip was still possible within a year.

The patrol frigate's normal crew was twenty-four, with a dozen
living quarters in each of the swing habitats.Like the
Swords these habitats were retracted while under thrust.
But unlike the Swords, the Audacious class could support twice
its standard complement for a full year and had a large cargo bay to store
contraband, life boats and even small shuttles.

Armament was only marginally advanced from the Swords.In general, any sort of weaponry would discourage or force the surrender
of pirates and other criminals.A hit from one of the
fourteen missiles or either of the lasers or auto cannon would easily disable
the radiators of a non-compliant vessel, preventing it from using its power
plant for all but the most minuscule thrust.After that, it
was merely a matter of matching velocities and boarding the troublesome vessel.

The main problem with the Space Force's patrol protocols was
simple the vastness of space.While populated regions were
well patrolled by Byzantium class fast frigates, once a ship left the
neighborhood of a planet or heavily settled asteroid, it was often the only ship
within a hundred million kilometers.With only twelve
Audacious class patrol frigates authorized and only ten of those completed,
most of the solar system was still an uninhabited unforgiving frontier.